The Politics of Hate: From Orwell to Dylan

The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool
He's taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
'Bout the shape that he's in
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game
--Bob Dylan, Only a Pawn in Their Game

One of the memorable features in Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 was a seven-day period of orchestrated mass hysteria directed towards the Party's current enemy. It served as a crucial element in maintaining the Party's control over the population by suppressing individuality and critical thought, strengthening social cohesion and loyalty, and channeling emotional energy towards the Party's goals.

In 1984 Hate Week was a constant bombardment of propaganda and mass manipulation. Rallying against a common enemy not only served as a convenient outlet for negative emotions, it also prevented questioning of the Party or its policies.

And as Dylan so poignantly notes, Hate Week served as a diversion, much like a magician uses misdirection to accomplice his or her illusions. Hate relieves us from noting our own emptiness, our own pettiness, our own smallness. Hatred becomes a tool movements use to manipulate people and their perceptions.

Eric Hoffer, who was noted for his insights and observations about mass movements, wrote, "Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil." In other words, hate can serve as a powerful glue for uniting people, especially when a common enemy or scapegoat is identified.

In the end, Orwell, Dylan, and Hoffer are all pointing to the same uncomfortable truth: hatred is one of the easiest tools for those in power to use. It simplifies the world into heroes and villains, good people and enemies, leaving little room for reflection or self-examination. When anger is constantly directed outward, we rarely stop to ask who benefits from that anger or what problems are being ignored while we are busy blaming someone else.

The challenge for any free society is to resist that manipulation. It requires citizens willing to think beyond slogans and question the narratives they are handed. Look around and listen. Who are we being told to hate today? Turn on the news. Scroll through social media. Notice how quickly outrage is manufactured and spread. Be aware—and beware. Otherwise, like the pawns in Dylan’s song, we risk being moved around the board by forces we scarcely see.

The Problem of Hate

"Luke! Don't give in to hate. That leads to the dark side."
--Obi-Wan Kenobi

One of the memorable features in Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 was a seven-day period of orchestrated mass hysteria directed towards the Party's current enemy. It served as a crucial element in maintaining the Party's control over the population by suppressing individuality and critical thought, strengthening social cohesion and loyalty, and channeling emotional energy towards the Party's goals.

Hate Week was a constant bombardment of propaganda and mass manipulation. Rallying against a common enemy not only served as a convenient outlet for negative emotions, it also prevented questioning of the Party or its policies.

It also facilitated an "us vs. them" mindset that strengthened the Party's rule by making dissenters seem like traitors and outcasts. 

Despite Orwell's warnings against being manipulated by the media as a mouthpiece for the State, the general public seems ever willing to be swept along in the current. For me, personally, all this hate saddens me. 

* * * 

One morning twenty or so years ago I decided to write some thoughts in my journal about hate.  What follows are the statements I recorded. 

Hate is used as a tool to manipulate masses, unite people.

Hate is used by hate-mongers to move people to action.

Hate makes people feel good (Having strong feelings makes them feel alive.)

Hate makes people feel bad (For hating, for being so controlled by it.)

Hate damages the hater.

Hate damages the hated.

Hate makes us irrational, difficult to reason with.

Hate will never solve interpersonal or international problems.

Hate is a form of slavery (to which we become chained.)

Hate can be a form of addiction (which makes us feel good about ourselves by deceiving us into thinking we are better than the hated.)

Hate is a serious problem in our world today.

Hate is evil.

Hate breaks things, damages and stains.

Hate produces great sadness in God’s heart.

* * * 

Returning to Orwell, here are some of the features of Hate Week:

Intense Propaganda Hate Week involved relentless exposure to propaganda through posters, banners, speeches, films, and even music, all demonizing the chosen enemy.

Two Minutes Hate This cathartic daily ritual forced the entire population to focus their rage and fear towards the enemy through televised images and orchestrated chanting. Public Displays Mass rallies, parades, and even physical attacks on effigies of the enemy fueled the emotional frenzy.

Loss of Reason and Critical Thinking During Hate Week, individuals were encouraged to abandon logic and embrace unbridled hatred, further solidifying the Party's control over their minds.

In Orwell's 1984, Hate Week serves as a powerful symbol of a ruling regimes' manipulation of mass emotions and the dangers of uncritical conformity. It underscores the importance of maintaining independent thought, which is also why keeping a journal, as Winston did, was forbidden.

I'll close with this comment I saw recently at the end of an article on Unherd: "Open hatred of people unlike you has become normalized. It’s the sort of thing that eventually, escalates into violence. Meet the new Jacobins, no different from the old ones."

Scrooge's Question for Our Times: Hope or Doom?

For my family it has been a Christmas eve tradition to watch the George C. Scott version of Charles Dickens’ timeless “A Christmas Carol” each year. Over the course of three decades we’ve probably memorized all the scenes and half the lines, yet we still enjoy it as both entertainment and soul food.

It’s a strange story about an old miserly man, Ebeneezer Scrooge, who is visited by three ghosts. The first ghost shows him key moments from his past. The second, the Ghost of Christmas Present, gives him a tour of events taking place at this very moment in time.

Then, near the climax of the film, Scrooge is led to a snow-covered grave slab by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come whereupon he cries out, “Spirit, are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be, only?” 

At its core, this statement addresses the distinction between fate and free will. Scrooge is inquiring whether the scenes he is witnessing, depicting a bleak and desolate future, are preordained and immutable or if they represent possibilities that can be altered through choices and actions. This inquiry has profound personal and societal implications.

On a personal level, Scrooge’s question prompts us to reflect on the choices we make and the potential for change in our own lives. It reminds us that our destinies are not set in stone but are shaped by our decisions and choices. Just as Scrooge had the agency to transform from a miserly, cold-hearted figure to a generous, compassionate one, so do we ourselves possess the power to redirect our own futures through acts of kindness, empathy, and selflessness.

I thought of these things today, in part, because of my concern about the future for our country. I see the disruption, the brokenness, the polarization, the lawlessness, the cruelty, the failures of our institutions and fear that I am watching a slow motion train wreck. Are we standing on the precipice of a national collapse?

I ask myself, “Are these current events the shadows of things that Will be, or are they only shadows of the things that May be?” 

It’s a call for reflection as the answer to this question will be determined by our collective choices. Let’s not be swept away by hysteria and hate. Mercy, humility and wisdom are the values we need to embrace. 

Are we witnessing a national train wreck? The future is in our hands.

Politics of Hate & Manipulation

Years ago, when I read Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer, the section about how propagandists use hate to manipulate people really hit home with me. Here are some excerpts.

“Common hatred unites the most heterogeneous elements… Hitler used anti-Semitism not only to unify his Germans but also to sap the resoluteness of Jew-hating Poland, Rumania, Hungary, and finally even France. He made similar use of anti-communism.” (p. 86)

By concentrating hatred on a single foe, Hoffer notes, it unites disparate groups as “adversaries far removed from one another seem to belong to a single category.” (p. 87)

With the advent of the internet, I have been on the receiving end of quite a few “pass this to ten friends” emails that foster hatred toward either Muslims or Hispanics. The Democrats do nothing to discourage hatred either, though with a different object who goes by the name Dubya.
The Oscar winning film Crash showed the corrosive power of prejudice, fear and mistrust. And the tragic consequences at an individual level.

On the national level hatred, whether from left or right, may unify disparate groups for a time, but it does not lead to a good society in the end. If the masses are led by manipulators instead of educators, we will most assuredly see them manipulated in ways that are not good for us.

My big concern today is that in the name of freedom from (Muslims or illegal immigrants or whatever we can be coerced into being afraid of) we will give up our still more of our freedoms.

In the light of history, it is not unwise to be wary.